It happens here at Velaspan fairly often: we check in with a client after wrapping their wireless project and learn that subsequent project stages are bogged down, delayed, or otherwise in limbo. In some cases this paves the way for conversations about a lesser-known Velaspan offering: staff augmentation.
Common in technology, staff augmentation at Velaspan is hardly new. Some part of our staff has been embedded in client businesses since we were founded in 2004. We don’t promote staff augmentation because it usually emerges organically, from existing client relationships. Furthermore, it isn’t a fit for every business. More on criteria momentarily. When it is a fit, though, the benefits for businesses reverberate well beyond wireless performance.
The Velaspan staff augmentation lowdown
Velaspan staff augmentation is still consulting, just structured differently than scoped projects:
We embed one or more employees into your organization for a specified yet flexible length of time. You manage and assign them to wireless priorities as you see fit. The employees nonetheless remain part of Velaspan. They participate in internal training and certifications, remain plugged into our team Slack, and have full access to Velaspan resources.
Sometimes the work assigned to our employees advances one defined wireless objective. Other times it’s a mix of disparate tasks, from preventative maintenance to engineering and deployment, even troubleshooting.
Staff augmentation setups range from a few hours a week to a full-time equivalent (FTE). There’s also the option of a blended FTE – a mix of Velaspan team members with different specialties and pay scales assigned as needed for 40 weekly hours total. Beyond granting you access to a staggering range of expertise, blended FTE assigns your wireless tasks to a Velaspan employee with commensurate skills and rates, so you only pay for the level of skill you need and use. Specifics of blended FTEs are deftly managed by an experienced Velaspan project manager assigned to the engagement for a limited number of hours each week. This PM serves as the point person across the effort, participating in meetings, handling requests, reporting on the status of ongoing work, and tracking time.
It’s worth mentioning that Velaspan staff augmentation can sometimes be structured creatively. One Velaspan employee works two weeks on, two weeks off for a longtime healthcare client. In “off” weeks he’s a member of the Velaspan support staff, still in touch with the client thanks to their Velaspan support contract!
Staff augmentation job functions cover the full gamut of prospective needs: wireless engineers, wireless network architects, deployment engineers, support resources, and project management. Engagements range from month-to-month to multi-year. We currently have employees placed across a full range of enterprises and verticals, addressing everything from day-to-day challenges to long-term initiatives.
Common reasons clients opt in
Clients turn to Velaspan staff augmentation for any number of wireless-related reasons and scenarios. Chief among them:
- They need in-house wireless expertise but can’t add to head count (during a hiring freeze, for example).
- They can’t find a job candidate who checks every box and who is familiar with all necessary technologies – in some cases because the ask is unrealistic (blended FTE is great in these situations, granting access to Velaspan specialists à la carte).
- Their wireless project can’t be readily scoped for one or more reasons: it’s open-ended, the timeline is unenforceable, or key details will materialize at an as-yet-unknown time.
- The need itself is undefined or unclear. Sometimes staff augmentation is simply the result of a client saying, “Whatever we can get done this year with a Velaspan employee, we want to get done!”
- Needs don’t individually constitute a complete Velaspan project. For example, sometimes an organization needs to test or patch wireless in just one area of a building and update documentation – no full report needed. Organizations with a steady flow of truncated needs along these lines (large campuses, for example) are often primed for staff augmentation, which readily covers a wide range of “odd jobs.”
- Wireless expertise is needed to connect the dots between scoped Velaspan engagements.
In terns of benefits, Velaspan staff augmentation has a number of far-reaching merits:
- Engagement timelines are modular – they can extend and evolve if needed, as needed, offering an attractive degree of flexibility.
- Scoping is similarly flexible; arrangements can scale with your needs.
- Staff augmentation is turnkey and can be activated quickly. We can generally mobilize faster than you’d be able to fill a staff position.
- Staff augmentation frees your business of many employee-related expenses: healthcare and benefits, yes, but also laptops, necessary specialized wireless equipment, software, related licensing, and training, all of which Velaspan handles/absorbs.
Is staff augmentation right for you?
If you answer “yes” to one or more of these questions, Velaspan staff augmentation might be a fit:
- Have you considered a full-time wireless hire but don’t have the resources – or face other hiring barriers?
- Are there unmet wireless needs between your scoped wireless projects (between a site survey and post-installation survey, for example)?
- Do some of your wireless tasks lack defined start and ends dates, such as multi-year projects, hardware refreshes, or improvement goals?
- Have you worked with Velaspan before? While we do make exceptions, staff augmentation clients ideally are those whose culture and needs are already familiar to our team.
Ready to benefit from an extra set of hands? Let’s talk about where our talent might fit on your team.
